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Sparkling Strawberry Jasmine Green Tea

/ Monday, July 1, 2013

So. Our house flooded.

At six thirty in the morning we heard Grandpa calling from upstairs (we live in the basement apartment of Reuben's grandparents' house). At first we thought one of them had fallen down, but it soon became apparent what the real problem was.

As I stepped out of our bedroom, I was sloshing through over half an inch of water. Grandma's washing machine valve had busted in the middle of the night, spraying water everywhere and raining down into the basement. Luckily we don't keep much on the floor so nothing was ruined. My camera had managed to be directly under a drip, but it was unharmed; and the water stopped JUST before it got to my computer desk.

Now we're all dry again and thankful it wasn't any worse.

But about this iced tea.

I can't say that I'm much of a flavored drink person. Generally speaking, give me water or milk and I am perfectly content. But on these hot summer days, it's fun to keep hydrated with something tasty.

Pop (or Soda, if you must) is generally not an option: I don't care for the high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden stuff, except for the occasional root beer float. You can blame my conscientious dad for that. He always made us order water at restaurants and very rarely brought sugary drinks into the house.

And so I've been enjoying trying out new drink recipes. This recipe caught my eye because the flavor combination was different than anything I had ever tried. I was worried that Reuben wouldn't care for it and I'd be drinking the whole pitcher myself. When he heard that I was putting an entire pint of strawberries into tea he freaked out a little. But he thought it was yummy and even asked if there was any left the next day.

While I was pouring the boiling water over the tea bags, my (glass!) tea kettle slipped out of my hands, spilling water everywhere. For some reason it didn't break when it hit our tile floor. Reuben grabbed a towel and started wiping up the mess, but I said, "Wait! It looks cool," and proceeded to take photos.

Recipe Notes:

The original recipe didn't specify Jasmine green tea, but it sounded kind of lovely to me so I went for it. The flavor is a little different, so if you prefer a more "normal" iced tea you could use regular green tea (or even black tea, if that's your thing).

Of course I used a natural sweetener. You could always use white sugar if you prefer. And I followed my instincts and decreased the sugar by 1/4 cup. I might go down to 1/2 cup next time.

And I decided to fill the gap of the spilled water with some sparkling water - that really made this drink, in my opinion.

13 comments

Wow! Glad nothing important was damaged in the water...my husband and I lived in his grandparents basement apartment for the first two years we were married and one time the refrigerator upstairs leaked and soaked the ceiling and walls of the basement, dripping all over the carpet. We never had anything as extreme happen as you did, though!

That drink looks delicious...my husband grew up drinking lots of pop and he is a big flavored beverage guy. This would be a great way to make things a little bit healthier for him!

So, I made this last week and it was pretty good! Jasmine tea was a new flavor for me. It's inspiring me to make more homemade sodas this summer...I also tried this one and really liked it: http://therigneys.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/basil-lime-soda/.